“He must be found…and destroyed!”
Christopher Lee’s iconic Count Dracula and Peter Cushing’s relentless Doctor Van Helsing square off for the first time in Horror of Dracula. Released simply as Dracula in the United Kingdom, the 1958 film is considered by many to be one of the best adaptations of Bram Stoker’s epic tale. Although it doesn’t follow the book much, it is a very well done story. It takes many of the characters from the classic novel and puts them in different roles. One who as read the book might be a little agitated with the way that the story is changed, but it plays out quite nicely as is.
The film opens with Jonathan Harker arriving at Castle Dracula to take a post as the librarian for the count. It is soon revealed that he’s actually there in order to kill the Dracula. The count discovers Harker’s true intentions and turns him into a vampire. Eventually Doctor Van Helsing arrives in town looking for Jonathan. When he discovers that Jonathan has been turned, he stakes him through the heart. The count has gone missing and Van Helsing sets out to find him and finish his reign of blood.
Van Helsing visits Jonathan’s would-be in-laws, Arthur and Mina Holmwood, and Arthur’s sister, Lucy, who was to marry Jonathan upon his return to town. Van Helsing tells the Holmwoods of Jonathan’s demise but leaves out the fact that he was turned into a vampire. As the days pass, Lucy becomes ills and gets sicker by the day. Van Helsing surmises that Lucy must be under the spell of Count Dracula, who has come to avenge the death of his own bride at the hands of Jonathan Harker.
Dracula succeeds in turning Lucy. Van Helsing tells Arthur what really happened to Jonathan and until he witnesses his undead sister attempt to draw in a young girl, Arthur doesn’t believe him. Arthur then becomes a vampire hunter alongside Van Helsing and the two set out to destroy the vampire before he can attack again. Do they succeed? You’ll have to watch Horror Of Dracula to find out!
Christopher Lee is wonderful as the count. Although he hadn’t seen Bela Lugosi’s portrayal of the character prior to filming Horror Of Dracula, he looks a lot like Lugosi with his long cloak and slicked hair. There’s also a hint of eroticism added to the character. Much like Lugosi, Lee’s Dracula was and still is considered a sex symbol. Unlike Lugosi’s count, Lee has fangs, bloodshot eyes, and blood dripping from his mouth after making lunch out of his victims. Cushing is easily my favorite actor in the role of Van Helsing. He’s exceptionally cool, calm, and collected. He’s much smoother than Lee in my opinion and that’s saying a lot. Michael Gough does a very nice job as Arthur Holmwood. Watching him transform from skeptic to vampire hunter was a delight. The rest of the cast was superb as well. Both Melissa Stribling (Mina) and Carol Marsh (Lucy) had very little to do in this film other than to play bait, but they did fine jobs nonetheless.
The climactic battle between Van Helsing and Dracula was done extremely well. There isn’t as much blood in the film as you’d expect from a Hammer production, but the blood that does show up is bright red as expected. The film was directed by Hammer legend Terence Fisher with cinematography by the brilliant Jack Asher. Music was headed up by Hammer regular James Bernard.
Thank you for reading my review of this iconic Hammer film. It has made me a massive fan of Peter Cushing as Van Helsing and puts Christopher Lee high on my Count Dracula list. I’ll have another fang-tastic film review for you tomorrow!
Ken's Alternate Universe! 